Top Photo: Marguerite Hunold is greeted by Lieutenant Commander Vincent Albert Sweeney after arriving at Adak Island’s Joint Weather Control facilities. This image would go on to be featured in several American newspapers. Courtesy US Navy

Roughly 100,000 women served in the US Naval Women’s Reserve, or WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), during World War II. Assigned to roughly 900 shore installations within the continental United States, it would not be until September 1944 that Congress granted WAVES permission to volunteer for duty assignments in the territories of Hawaii and Alaska. For those destined to serve in facilities throughout the remote Alaskan Territory, their journeys would follow in the footsteps of Marguerite Frances Hunold.

Born on February 19, 1912, in Port Washington, New York, Hunold was an exceptionally bright student who enrolled at Middlebury College in Vermont after graduating from high school. Nicknamed “Gete” by her classmates, she earned the reputation of being a “mathemaniac” even among other math majors.  After receiving her bachelor’s degree on June 12, 1933, Hunold moved to North Hempstead, New York, spending the interwar years as an insurance company’s secretary and stenographer until the rapidly changing nature of the US Armed Forces gave her a chance to truly shine.

Joining the WAVES in October 1942, Hunold’s education and skills marked her as a potential officer in the eyes of the Navy. By November she was a member of the first class of 343 WAVES assigned to the Mount Holyoke College Midshipman’s School in South Hadley, Massachusetts. After receiving her commission as an Ensign upon graduation, Hunold was selected to become one of the first WAVES trained as an aerologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This instruction in the study of the earth’s atmosphere formed a crucial part of the Navy’s meteorological services, especially regarding weather forecasting for aviation units. With the restrictions initially placed on WAVES limiting their service to the contiguous 48 states, Hunold was selected for deployment to a posting in the Pacific Northwest nearly 3,000 miles away from her hometown. And so, on November 17, 1943, Hunold became the first member of the WAVES assigned to the Sand Point Naval Air Station in Seattle, Washington.

A 1940s aerial view of Sand Point Naval Air Station.  Courtesy US Navy

Hunold remained a fixture at Sand Point for the next year. Her station’s purpose was to forecast weather from the Aleutian Islands of the Alaskan Territory down to San Diego, California, for Naval aviators and even some surface ships. As part of these duties, Hunold personally briefed pilots on the conditions they were expected to face, and her hard work earned Hunold a promotion to Lieutenant Junior Grade on January 1, 1944. As the war progressed and the restrictions on deploying WAVES eased, Hunold received a unique opportunity to see her work implemented in person.

In October 1944, Hunold volunteered for temporary duty in the Alaska Territory to study Aleutian weather conditions. While this type of weather familiarization assignment was common for servicemen, Hunold was the first female aerologist given the opportunity. Recognizing the probability of permanent postings of WAVES to the area, the Navy also tasked Hunold with identifying billeting arrangement options for future female aerographers assigned to Aleutian duty stations during her trip. Flying north from Washington to begin her 11-day tour of the Aleutians, Hunold landed at Elmendorf Field in Anchorage, Alaska, to a crowd of officers and pressmen waiting to document the first member of the WAVES in Alaska.  

After the formalities of her arrival, Hunold was assigned a place within the nurses’ quarters of the base, as these were the only women’s accommodations at many locations in the territory. After her initial familiarization, Hunold began a trailblazing excursion to see her predictions in action. She personally prepared the weather reports used by her pilots on each leg of her trip, witnessing the nature of the Aleutian environment both in the air and on the ground. When Hunold reached Naval Air Station Kodiak in Alaska, she was promptly welcomed by Lieutenant Commander A.R. Hetherington and a Navy camera team before proceeding to Fleet Weather Central for study. 

Marguerite Hunold studies charts of the Aleutians at NAS Kodiak’s Fleet Weather Central prior to her flights to the islands. Courtesy National Archives

From Kodiak she flew out into the Aleutian Islands proper, visiting the site of Japan’s 1942 attack against the North American continent at Dutch Harbor in Unalaska. Advancing further along the chain, Hunold flew on to Adak Island, receiving a personal greeting from Lieutenant Commander Vincent Albert Sweeney amid the Quonset huts of the island’s Joint Weather Control facilities. This last major visit of her trip was photographed and featured in papers throughout the United States, catapulting Hunold into the public consciousness as more details of her journey were released throughout November and December 1944.

The WWII aerology building at Dutch Harbor where Marguerite Hunold reported to in 1944, now preserved as the Aleutian Islands World War II Visitor Center. Courtesy National Park Service 

Being able to witness Aleutians weather firsthand was doubtless an impressive experience. WWII Navy Aerographer’s Mate Paul E. Carrigan noted in his memoirs that “in weather circles, the Aleutians are generally considered to have the worst weather in the world,” a sentiment that matched the region’s rapidly shifting nature. As cold air from the Bering Sea collides with the warmer temperatures of the Pacific, localized wind, rain, fog, and snow can form in a constantly shifting array across the island chain.  Relying on a combination of visual reports, upper air radiosonde data, hourly measurements, and other readings, aerologists like Hunold used their training to anticipate the resulting atmospheric reactions for pilots. Being in the air, however, exposed her to the turbulence of the islands’ strong winds, the biting cold that seeped into airframes, and the often-dangerous conditions of wet or frozen runways. Hunold’s tour of the Aleutians allowed her to see the effectiveness of her predictions and perfect her approach as well as experience the reality of aircrews hundreds or thousands of miles away from her duty station whose flights depended on her work.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Marguerite Hunold arrives at NAS Kodiak in Alaska, where she is greeted by Lieutenant Commander A.R. Hetherington  and Lieutenant W.C. Jones. National Archives

After her 11-day tour concluded, Hunold returned to Sand Point and continued her duties as an aerologist, using her new firsthand knowledge to the fullest. She received a promotion to Lieutenant on May 1, 1945, and though she was discharged from active duty after three years of service at the end of the war, Hunold remained in the Reserves for years to come. Promoted to Lieutenant Commander on August 1, 1951, she officially retired from the Reserves in July 1959. Hunold went on to live a long life, passing away in Suffolk, New York on October 23, 2001, and leaving behind an often-overlooked legacy of being the first of many in her field.